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Clan Ainslie (Tartans, Crest) and The Story Behind

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Ainslie

Clan Crest: Issuing out of a cap of maintenance a naked arm embowed grasping a scymitar, all Proper

Clan Motto: Gude In Need

Historic Seat: Dolphinstone Castle (ruined), Jedburgh

Clan Chief: None, armigerous clan

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Clan Ainslie History

The surname Ainslie is derived most likely from Annesley in Nottinghamshire, England. Ansley was also recorded as "Hanslei" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and derives from the Olde English "ansetl", hermitage, with "leah", thin wood, glade, clearing. Annesley in Nottinghamshire is recorded in the Domesday Book as "Aneslei," and means "the solitary glade," from the Olde English "an," one, with "leah" as previously. As a result, it is most likely that it originated in Nottinghamshire.

The surname Ainslie is mostly found in Scotland's borderlands, but it was common in England before the Norman Conquest. Ainslie, Ainsley, Aynsley, and Ainslee are modern variations of the surname. Thomas de Aneslei (1221, Glasgow), Johan de Anesleye (1296, Roxburghshire), and John de Annesley were the first people with the surname Ainlie (or a variant of this) (1292, York).

The Saxon lords of Annesley in Nottinghamshire held vast estates, but they fled to Scotland in the face of William the Conqueror's advancing forces, where they were graciously welcomed by Malcolm III.

The growing family soon settled in the area around Dolphinstone. Around 1208, William de Ainslie, a canon of Glasgow Cathedral, witnessed a charter signed by Walter, Bishop of Glasgow. In 1221, Thomas de Ainslie was appointed as one of the mediators to settle a dispute between the monks of Kelso and the bishopric of Glasgow. Sir Aymer de Aynesley was a Borders knight sent to settle the marches with the English in 1249. In the Ragman Roll, which lists those who submitted to Edward I of England in 1296, there are two references to the family: John de Anesleye of Roxburghshire and Johan de Anesley of Cruwfurt in Laarkshire. Between 1248 and 1254, Robert de Ainslie, Baron of Dolphinstone, accompanied his cousin Patrick, Earl of Dungar and March, on a crusade to the Holy Land. The Laird of Dolphinstone, who swore fealty to Edward I, appears to be the crusader's son, John.

The Ainslies opposed Robert the Bruce's campaign for the Scottish throne and paid the price by losing their estates. However, their fortunes changed when William de Ainslie, who had married Helen Kerr (from whom the current Duke of Roxburgh descends), became a favorite of Robert II. In 1377, the estates of Dolphinstone were returned to William de Ainslie. The Anisllies secured their fortunes through marriage alliances with other prominent Borders families. They married into the Douglases, Pringles, Homes, and Kerrs families. Marjory, John Ainslie's daughter, married Mark Kerr of Cessford, a tough warrior known as the Terror of the Borders. In 1547, he was killed at the Battle of Pinkie.

Robert Ainslie, a Scottish writer and correspondent of Robert Burns, the poet, was born on January 13, 1766. In the spring of 1787, he met the poet in Edinburgh, and they traveled through the Borders together, with Ainslie being welcomed at Burns' family home. Later, he paid a visit to Burns at Ellisland and was given a manuscript copy of Tam o' Shanter, which he later presented to the writer Sir Walter Scott. Sir Whitelaw Ainslie, one of his brothers, was the medical superintendent of India's Southern Division and the author of a detailed work on Indian native medicine. He was a regular contributor to the Edinburgh Magazine and the author of several plays. From 1776 to 1792, Sir Robert Ainslie served as the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople. He was also a Member of Parliament and was made a baronet in 1804. He is best known for three volumes of Egyptian drawings and sketches.

The Ainslie arms clearly allude to their early crusading exploits, but they have also held high military rank in recent times. At the Battle of Balaclave in 1854, General Charles de Ainslie led the 93rd Highland Regiment, which has become known as the "Thin Red Line."

The Ainslie family was also well-known lawyers, and David Ainslie of Costerton, who died in 1900, left a fortune amassed from his legal practice to fund the construction of the Astley Ainslie Hospital in Edinburgh.

The Ainslie family is remembered on the wall of South Leith Parish Church.

Clan Ainslie People & Places

People of Clan Ainslie

Colonel Sir Philip Ainslie, KT, of Pilton (1728-1802).

Philip Ainslie was the second son of George Ainslie (d. 1773) and his wife Jane/Jean, daughter of Sir Philip Anstruther, KT. He was born in Edinburgh in 1728. Philip attended Westminster School before joining the army in 1754. He was a colonel of the 7th Dragoons, as well as a lieutenant colonel of cavalry while on duty in Portugal, and as Prince Charles of Mecklenberg's aide-de-camp. On February 25, 1778, King George III knighted Ainslie. He retired in 1786 and died in 1802 at the age of 74 in Edinburgh, where he had spent his final years. Philip Ainslie married the Hon. Elizabeth (d. 1787), daughter of John, 11th Lord Gray, on March 15, 1772, in Edinburgh. General George Robert Ainslie was one of Philip and Elizabeth's children, as was Margaret Jane Ainslie, who married Francis Stuart, 10th Earl of Moray, in 1801 and had three children.

Rev. George Ainslie (1804-1875)

George Ainslie was an Anglican minister in the nineteenth century. He died on May 14, 1875, at the age of 71.

Clan Ainslie Tartans

Because the Ainslie Tartan is not a stock woven tartan, it can only be done as a special weave; please contact us to arrange this. The district tartans are the most important because they are the source of the name.

The Tartan of Ainslie

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The District of Roxburgh

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Roxburgh Historic

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Roxburgh Has Been Muted

Clan Ainslie Crest & Coats of Arms

Clan Ainslie Coat of Arms

Worn by everyone with the same name and ancestry

Description of the Crest:

A naked arm embowed and grasping a scymitar emerges from a maintenance cap, all Proper.

Coats of Arms of Clan Ainslie

A word about Coats of Arms:

A coat of arms is granted to an individual under Scottish heraldic law (with the exception of civic or corporate arms). There are no such things as "family coats of arms." Personal weapons are depicted below (with the above exceptions). Only the person who has been granted these weapons has the right to use them.)

ARMS

Alternatively, a cross flory Gules

IN THE COMPARTMENT

Pro patria saepe, semper rege (For country often, for King always)

SUPPORTERS

Tow knights in chain armor at all points, the dexter with the beaver of his helmet up and leaning on a shield, on a compartment of thistles with the stump of a tree whereon the shield is resting. The one charged with a cross flory Gules, and the other capuched with a skull cap and holding a spear, with a flowing pennon Azure, on which is the aforementioned crest in a canton Argent.